On Wednesday, Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) announced a new agreement that will allow Cuban baseball players to come directly to MLB in a “safe and legal” manner. The agreement, which was the product of years of negotiation, seeks to end the black market and human trafficking that has put so many Cuban ballplayers in physical danger (as well as legal and financial danger) as they tried to pursue their dream of playing baseball at the highest level.
The agreement is somewhat similar to the posting system that MLB has with Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), as well as South Korea’s KBO and Taiwan’s CPBL.